The New Nation - Internet Edition

UNB, Dhaka

Bangladesh Bar Council, a regulatory body of the lawyers on Monday urged the government to immediately initiate a drive to purge inefficient and suspected corrupt judges, including those at higher courts, to revive the lost image of the judiciary.

"If it doesn't happen right now, people are unlikely to get the benefits of the judiciary separation," Khondaker Mahbub Hossain, vice-chairman of the Bar Council, told a press conference. He said the judiciary was separated from the executive control on November 1 to ensure fair dispensation of justice right from the higher courts down to the subordinate ones for the people. "So the judiciary must be purged from vices by constituting an appropriate commission," he said.

To make the criminal justice delivery system effective, Mahbub, also a top criminal lawyer, said a separate police investigation agency equipped with logistic supports and recruitment of public prosecutors through a competitive examination sans political consideration should be introduced immediately.

Parrying a question about the number of inefficient and suspected corrupt judges at the higher court benches, the bar leader said, "If we cannot make the higher judiciary garbage-free, justice for all will remain a far cry."

In reply to another question, he said the Bar Council has sought

government permission for holding its election. "But, there has been no response so far. So, we're facing a lot of complications for the delay in holding the election."

The tenure of the executive committee of the Bar Council expired in June last, but the overdue election could not be held due to state of emergency.

However, the government has constituted an ad hoc committee with Mahbub as its vice-chairman to run the statutory body until an elected committee takes over.

Bar Council house committee chairman Moshiuzzaman and relief committee chairman Fakir Delwar Hossain were present at the press conference.